Darkness, Hope, & Light
by Faith E. Cassidine
Summary: Kari has been stuck in a catatonic state for five years. Will she ever be able to return to those who love her?
1. Chapter 1

Darkness, Hope & Light

A/N: Yes Faith has started another story, this time I'm trying a Digimon story that has been in the back of my mind for nearly 6 years. First off, I'm American so I will be using the American names. Second I wrote this story nearly 6 years ago so be kind with your reviews. Third normal disclaimers apply, I don't own anything, if I did the second season ending wouldn't be the way it was.

*Told in TK's POV unless otherwise specified*

Chapter 1

She's been like this for five years. Five years in a catatonic state. People constantly tell me I should put her away but I won't do that to her. I promised myself years ago that after everything that she could count on me, and I'm not about to let her down again. I feel that I let her down when I couldn't save her from the darkness that sent her into her present state of catatonia.

I look at her. She is one of the most beautiful people I've ever seen. Long brown hair, large brown eyes, and fair skin. The one thing I miss is that bright smile. I remember the last time she gave me that smile. It was less than 24 hours before she fell victim to the darkness. I told her that no matter what hope and light belong together. She smiled at me and told me that if they belong together that we should date. I asked her if she wanted to be my girlfriend, she smiled and said yes. Before we could even tell anyone my girlfriend was gone, her mind stuck wherever it was.

The hardest part is that only a few of our friends still come to try and help me take care of her. My brother Matt has been here lately, after his last tour ended. He was supposed to go to Europe, but he told his band that I needed him, so mostly they are recording a new album, and all other times he's here with me. Sora is also here. She's here a lot, because she's a fashion designer, so she can do her sketching here. Mimi is here whenever she can get here. She still lives in New York, but she's been hinting to her parents that she wants to come back here. Ken is here almost all the time, well when he's not at university studying for his degree in Criminal Justice.

I looked up when I heard the door slam open and boots being heavily dropped to the floor. Mimi walked in. "No change?" were the first words out of her mouth.

"No." I responded, "Where do you think her mind is?"

"I don't know T.K. I really don't know." Mimi replied. "Where is everybody?"

"Matt's at the recording studio, Sora has a meeting with her boss, and Ken is at school, but his class should be over by now, so I guess he'll be back soon." I answered.

Mimi shrugged, "T.K. when was the last time you brushed her hair?" She took a brush from her bag and began to run it softly through Kari's brown hair.

"I brushed it this morning." I replied. "How's your parents?"

"Mad right now." Mimi said, "They don't understand why I want to remain here. I'm staying here until we get Kari back."

"We've been trying to get her back for five years. Nothing we do works." I whined, "Our computer experts have left already. So that's out."

It was true. Izzy and Yolei along with Cody and Joe were the first of our group to give up and go on with their lives. That was less than a year after Kari got lost in side her mind. Our Digimon didn't even last a week. Davis left a year after that, and Tai left not to long after shocking every last one of us.

"Ken looks up some stuff while at school, but we really can't find a way to get her back. Everyone still tells me to put her in a home, but I can't I promised to protect her." I commented.

"You don't not put her away because you promised to protect her, you don't put her away because you love her." Mimi told me, "The main reason is you love her. Admit it."

"Fine!" I cried, noticing that Kari didn't make any indication that I yelled, "I love her. I love Kari more than anything but even my love can't seem to bring her back!" I began to sob.

Mimi moved over to me, and put her arms around me. "I'm sorry." She whispered, "I just wanted you to admit your true feelings."

"Why can't she come back to me?" I cried, "I need her back. She is my world."

"Maybe she doesn't show it, but I'm positive she can feel your love. All of our love, us who are still here." Mimi explained.

"If she can feel it, why can't she return?" I asked.

"She is trying, I bet. Inside she's fighting a battle and knowing that we're here, our love is keeping her fighting so that she can return." Mimi said.

I remained silent. Was that true? Is Kari fighting inside her mind to come back to us?

"Hey T.K." Mimi said, "I'm guessing Matt, Sora, and Ken will be back soon, so how about we cook something. I can make some really good western food if you have the right ingredients." She went off into the kitchen.

I kissed Kari softly on the forehead and whispered, "I love you please come back." With no response from Kari I followed Mimi into the kitchen.

A/N: I know this is short, but this was mostly just to introduce y'all to the story. I hope everyone enjoys and PLEASE please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks to reader questions this chapter will be mostly flashback. Same old disclaimers I do not own anything…and please review.

As I watched Mimi cook one of her western style dishes, I thought back to how everything started…

_Kari had just agreed to be my girlfriend. We were planning to tell everyone that night. Almost everyone was there, only Joe was missing, he was running late after taking an exam. It all happened so fast. Kari was holding my hand, talking happily to Ken on her other side about a photography class she was thinking of taking. _

_ Suddenly she was screaming about the dark ocean. I could see her beginning to flicker away. Both Ken and I held her in an attempt to keep her here with us. We succeeded in keeping her body here. When she didn't respond or move when we asked if she was alright, we discovered that her mind was trapped somewhere. _

_ We couldn't take her to the hospital or anything, they couldn't do a thing. We called on our Digimon, asking them to see if they could find anything in the digital world. Gatomon tried everything, including scratching Kari's face to wake her up. _

_ They searched for a long time, even after they believed that it was pointless they still searched because we asked. Gatomon eventually returned to the digital world and that was the last time we saw our digimon. A few days after Gatomon's return, we tried to contact them in the digital world and we had gotten an e-mail saying that they had gone on their own. _

_ Most of our friends seemed to worry about me more than Kari. Maybe because I had said that I would take care of her as long as it takes to get her back._

_ Yolei and Izzy spent hours on the computer trying to find a cure, and Joe tried what he could with his medical knowledge. I wanted to quit school to take care of her, when I said that to my mom, she nearly had a heart attack. I was forced to go to school everyday, while Ken with his knowledge was able to continue his classes over the internet. _

_ For nearly a year everyone was here. Then without any word to us Cody picked up and left. I still don't know where he is. Joe was gone soon after, with a short letter stating that he needed to use his medical knowledge for people who could be saved. I threw a vase at the window upon reading that._

_ Yolei's letter was along the same lines when she left. She was all like "I have so much more I need to do with my life, sorry." I couldn't handle that and Matt had to talk to me or I would have broken something else, considering I was still paying for the window. Izzy left without a word, much like Cody._

_ I spent the next year only leaving Kari when I was forced to go to school. Tai had dropped out despite his parents protests. He didn't do much of anything now that I think of it. He would just sit there and stare at Kari, as if that would help. He kept blaming himself I think._

_ After two years Davis said to me, "I have to move on from this, I can't wait around for her to just one day die on us, I have to live my life." I broke his nose. He went to the hospital and split._

_ Two weeks after that Ken, who had gone back to school after Tai quit, and I returned to find Tai missing and Kari in that same state she had been in for the past two years. I found a note on the kitchen table: _

_ "T.K._

_I can't do this anymore. I can't just sit here. Every day I watch Kari and even I know now she is never going to come back to us. You know I love my sister more than anything, but this is so difficult. Nothing I do is helping. I know this is mostly my fault. I couldn't save her, I should've been able to. I have to go, Kari will just do better without me here. Don't try to find me, I won't be found, Just take care of my sister_

_ Tai"_

_ Everyone was reeling from Tai's leaving. In fact Matt was so upset he had to go on anti-depressants just to get through the day. When Mimi came for her next visit about a week after Tai left she was so mad I thought she would trash the apartment. Instead she spent a lot of time on the phone trying to convince her parents that staying here would be good for her. _

And that leads us to now. Kari stayed in the same state she had been since the beginning. Sometimes why only some us have stayed and some have not.

Cody, Joe, and Izzy weren't very close with Kari, I think Joe and Izzy only thought of her as Tai's kid sister. I think Cody was just kind of young. Yolei and Davis, especially him, surprised me. Davis had a huge crush on Kari for years, I really thought he'd stay. I knew Kari and Yolei were good friends, I still couldn't believe she left. Tai still confuses me, but I follow his request and don't try to look for him.

Matt stayed for me, that I'm positive about, and Sora stayed because Matt did. I rack my brain to find why Mimi stayed. In fact sometime last year I asked her.

"Kari is important in my life. I'm going to continue coming until she's better." Was Mimi's explanation.

Ken stays because he feels intensely guilty. In fact he's positive that what happened to Kari is his fault. Ken says he knew about the Dark Ocean, he knew about the darkness trying to take over, he knew how hard is was to escape. He mentioned not being able to save his brother, there was no hope for him. He tells me there is hope for Kari I just have to believe.

I do believe, that is my crest, Hope. I will always hold Hope.

Izzy's Knowledge didn't help, and Joe didn't remain Reliable. Cody didn't either. Yolei didn't hold faithful to Love or Sincerity. Davis ignored his Courage and Friendship. Tai lost all his Courage.

Matt is loyal to Friendship. Sora is deep in Love. Mimi is fully faithful to Sincerity. Ken listens to his Kindness I try hard to Hope.

Friendship, Love, Sincerity, Kindness, and Hope, together we are going to find Light and bring Kari back.

"Dinner's ready." Mimi cried.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry for the long update, was suffering (and still kinda am) from a huge bout of Writer's Block. Not to mention I was without my computer for over a month, so here goes chapter 3, and same old disclaimers apply.

Matt, Sora, and Ken had returned by the time that Mimi was done cooking. For some reason she has a tendency to cook breakfast for us, for dinner. I will never understand that. This time it was eggs and potatoes.

I watched Kari as we ate. Feeding her is strange. In fact that's the only time she moves at all. She will open and close her mouth, but her eyes never focus on whoever is feeding her, she never moves her head or arms, or legs or any other part of her body.

Another strange thing is if she doesn't like the food, which is rare, she will spit it out and keep her mouth shut. It gives me hope that she's still in there someplace.

Tonight it was Ken's turn to feed Kari. He's actually better at it than even me. He sits there and coaxes her for hours if he has too. I think it has to do with the fact he still feels guilty. We have spent years telling him that it's not his fault, but he still blames himself.

"I think I've found a way that may bring her back." Ken said.

"Really? What?" I cried.

"Well, I don't know how we can achieve it, but it all has to do with the Dark Ocean." Ken explained, "We'd have to find a way to get her there."

"The digital world has been sealed for years, we can't get through." Matt said, "We can't get her there."

"It's times like this we need Izzy and Yolei." I muttered.

"It was a good idea though." Sora said, soothingly, "It just isn't accessible at this time."

"I'm going to find a way back to the digital world." Ken said, "It's my fault anyway."

Mimi sighed, "Ken you know it's not your fault. It's no more your fault than it is mine. "

Ken mumbled, "I was the Digimon Emperor. I controlled them the first time they took Kari. Who's to say that in some way I'm controlling them now, I don't know if I am. What if there's some way that my evil self is trapped in the digital world holding Kari trapped there." With that he stalked off to his room.

I rubbed my eyes, "He really feels bad."

"He shouldn't." Sora said, "I mean I wasn't around much when he was the Emperor, but I thought that was all behind us."

"As long as Kari is trapped, we feel lost." Mimi explained.

I sat next to Kari and stroked her cheek, like I often did. As usual she didn't acknowledge me or my touch. This was very trying. I wouldn't even mind if she slapped my hand away, just something to show me that she was still here.

Mimi was typing on a laptop that she had apparently brought with her. "I can't even get a link to the digital world. We are fully cut off."

"When our Digimon left us after Kari got lost, we lost our connection. To get any connection we'd have to find them again." Matt said.

"If we can't get a link we can't find them." Mimi whined, "This is so frustrating." She began speaking in rapid English. I hate when she does that. Mostly because none of us can understand her, in fact Ken is the only one of us that can speak any English, and Mimi speaks to fast sometimes for even him to follow.

"This just doesn't make much sense. There has to be a way to get there, because Kari's mind must still be there." Sora said.

"Not necessarily." I pointed out. "If her mind is in the Digital World, that could explain why we can't get her back, especially since it's sealed."

"We really need Izzy for this." Mimi mumbled, still typing on the computer, "I was never good at this. I know absolutely nothing about how to use computers."

Matt sat next to me, "This is the second time I failed Tai. For the second time I failed to protect her like I promised."

Sora hugged him, "As I said the first time, Matt this is not your fault."

"There has to be a very strong reason that they were able to take her if my love couldn't keep her here or get her mind back." I replied.

Mimi was still typing, "I'll ask Michael if he has any ideas."

"I thought you know nothing about computers." Matt said.

"I can send e-mails, but not much more." Mimi said, "It'll probably be a few hours before I hear back."

Ken came out of his room, "I'm sorry for my outburst. I just feel so helpless."

"We all do." Sora said.

"I may have found a way to get back to the digital world, but I don't think we can." Ken said, "It has to do with the power of our crests."

"We lost the power of them a long time ago." Mimi said, "And with half of us gone, we don't have half our power."

"I thought about that, and I thought if Yolei, Cody, and Davis could harness two why can't we find a way for some of you guys to harness two crests, and then we might be able to find a link." Ken explained. "The thing is who had the power of the missing crests?"

"Matt is defiantly courage." Sora and I said together.

" I think Ken for you would be Knowledge." Matt said.

"Mimi with her constant comings would be reliability." I said.

Ken nodded, "Sora or T.K. one of you needs to harness Light. Kari in her state needs that help."

" I'll do it." I said, "Kari is my responsibility." I grabbed her hand, "_Hang on sweetie, we're on the path to getting you back to me. Just hang on, I'm getting you back._"

A/N: Thanks to all those who are still reading after years of no updates, this chapter if for you!~Faith


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